EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). This remarkable recent video – of the many one can find online – examines the growing movement of Baptists and evangelicals converting to Eastern Orthodoxy in America, especially among young adults and men.
- It contrasts Baptist traditions—scripture alone, believer’s baptism, and independent churches—with Orthodoxy’s ancient liturgy, hierarchy, sacraments, fasting, and continuity with the early church.
- Orthodox churches are reportedly seeing significant growth in catechumen classes and adult baptisms, largely driven by Protestant converts.
- The internet, podcasts, and YouTube have exposed many evangelicals to Orthodox theology and history for the first time.
- Converts consistently cite five reasons for the shift:
- Desire for rootedness and stability.
- Frustration with entertainment-driven worship.
- Access to Orthodox teaching online.
- Attraction to disciplined spiritual practices.
- Strong appeal to young men seeking seriousness and structure.
- The argument is that many young Christians are searching for a faith that feels ancient, demanding, and spiritually serious rather than consumer-oriented.
- It concludes by encouraging Christians across denominations to reflect on the hunger for deeper discipleship while emphasizing unity in Christ over denominational labels.
Glory be to God!
I would take those numbers of converts with a doze of scepticism. America’s faith offerings are like a salad bar. People take what they want. Have their been a movement towards Orthodoxy? Yes. But it is minuscule, compared to America’s churn rate of faith abandonment, which has reached numbers unheard of in this country and approaching European levels at some areas of the country, such as New England, where only 25% of the people are connected to a faith
Some young men, leaning towards a conservative mindset, have discovered on the internet, that Russian Orthodoxy (mind you, not the Greek version) is conservative, matching their ideology. That’s where the first caution sign comes up. When people are attracted to anything, but especially faith, because it clicks with their beliefs, it does not mean that there has been a genuine conversion. It is similar to conservatives following Tucker Carlson, or liberals watching MSNBC. You’re just attracted to what you already believe in. Faith offers a deeper connection, because it involves God. And belief in God is very malleable. People are known to believe what they want.
As for number of converts, million more Americans are attracted to non-denominational Christianity, than to Orthodoxy. And millions more are now categorized as nones. Until I see an actual rise in the percentage of Orthodoxy in America, from the less than 1% that it has been stuck since the first immigrants, I won’t break out champaign bottles for celebration. So far, I would characterize it as a phase that would pass.
Any serious number of converts to Orthodoxy in North America should grow slowly. Orthodoxy is a different “culture of faith” a different “weltanschauung”, most of the time radically different from the ordinary person’s perspective. One catechumen I speak with these days talks about how his secular materialistic mindset clashes with the rather basic idea of God being “all in all”. Another recent convert still talks about trying to follow “rules”, i.e. rules of prayer, rules of fasting, rules for tithing and so on. The thought of undertaking any of these things in order to draw closer to God rather than fulfillling duties is not yet a fully natural one. Christ is Risen!